Americans have a severe disease - worse than AIDS. It's called the winner's complex.
Mikhail GorbachevRead
The market is not an invention of capitalism. It has existed for centuries. It is an invention of civilization.
Interpretation
The market is a fundamental aspect of human society, not just a capitalist concept.
Mikhail Gorbachev emphasizes that markets have been integral to human civilization throughout history, suggesting that they are not exclusive to capitalist systems. This viewpoint encourages a broader understanding of economic systems, indicating that the marketplace is a fundamental social construct that has evolved over time, entwined with the development of civilization itself.
In practice
In a discussion about economic history, one might quote Gorbachev to highlight the ancient roots of trade.
Americans have a severe disease - worse than AIDS. It's called the winner's complex.
Gentlemen, comrades, do not be concerned about all you hear about Glasnost and Perestroika and democracy in the coming years. They are primarily for outward consumption. There will be no significant internal changes in the Soviet Union, other than for cosmetic purposes. Our purpose is to disarm the Americans and let them fall asleep.
The soviet people want full-blooded and unconditional democracy.
To me, nature is sacred. Trees are my temples and forests are my cathedrals.
New approaches are needed, new orientations in both thought and action. We must make the transition to a new civilization...We are talking of a transition toward a new civilization. No one knows what it will be like. What is important is to orient in that direction... I am convinced that a new civilization will inevitably take on certain features that are characteristic of, or inherent in, the socialist ideal.
According to Lenin, socialism and democracy are indivisible.... The essence of perestroika lies in the fact that it unites socialism with democracy and revives the Leninist concept of socialist construction both in theory and in practice. We want more socialism and, therefore, more democracy.
The present rearranges the past. We never tell the story whole because a life isn't a story; it's a whole Milky Way of events and we are forever picking out constellations from it to fit who and where we are.
The constitution of Soviet Russia must insure equal rights for all citizens regardless of sex, creed, race, or nationality.
Humility collects the soul into a single point by the power of silence. A truly humble man has no desire to be known or admired by others, but wishes to plunge from himself into himself, to become nothing, as if he had never been born. When he is completely hidden to himself in himself, he is completely with God
Death is beautiful. It alone gives love its true habitat.
Look here β we shall all die! Bear this in mind always, and then the spirit within will wake up. Then only, meanness will vanish from you, practicality in work will come, you will get new vigour in mind and body, and those who come in contact with you will also feel that they have really got something uplifting from you.
It is a man's own mind, not his enemy or foe, that lures him to evil ways.
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